The invention relates to a solid textile-care composition and to its use and manufacture. The invention further relates to a laundry detergent or cleaning agent that contains the solid textile-care composition.
Repeated washing often causes textiles to become hard and lose their softness. In order to restore softness and flexibility to textiles, in order to impart a pleasant scent to them, and/or in order to improve their anti-static properties, the textiles are treated with a conditioner in a subsequent rinsing process after the actual washing and cleaning process.
Most conditioners on the market are aqueous formulations that contain as the principal active constituent a cationic textile-softening compound that comprises one or more long-chain alkyl groups in one molecule. Widely used cationic textile-softening compounds encompass, for example, methyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N,N-di(tallowacyloxyethyl)ammonium compounds or N,N-dimethyl-N,N-di(tallowacyloxyethyl)ammonium compounds.
Because of the cationic textile-softening compounds, these conventional conditioner formulations cannot be used simultaneously with the laundry detergent or cleaning agent in the actual washing or cleaning process, since the cationic textile-softening compounds interact undesirably with the anionic surfactants of the laundry detergent or cleaning agent. An additional rinsing operation is therefore necessary, but this is time- and energy-intensive.
A further disadvantage is that conventional conditioners do not prevent the deposition of lime residues onto the laundry during the rinsing operation. In addition, the conventional conditioners often leave behind an unattractive deposit in the bleach dispenser of the washing machine.
Problems can also occur with other textile-care compounds, requiring e.g. separate dispensing and/or a separate rinse cycle.